Marking MiWok 2026: another angle to the tradition

Another belated story, albeit just in time for a same-month report. And another angle to a major Bay Area ultra running monument, as well as long run for me. Plus a very special tie to the local Native American heritage of the Bay Are, to complement the Ohlone one.

After 20 years, I even learned that we were supposed to capitalize the w in the name of these people speaking the MiWok (or MiWuk) language. (That being said, there doesn't seem to be a consensus on that particular typography, across the web, starting with Wikipedia.)

Yes, 20 years of relationship with this race. I ran it 12 consecutive times, with 11 finishes, including the shorter 60K edition of 2013 due to partial course closure: 2007, 2008 (9:41), 2009, 2010 (9:48), 2011, 2012, 2013 (60K), 2014 (9:43), 2015 (9:51), 2016 (DNF, 7 weeks after my stroke/TIA epic adventure), 2017, 2018 and 2019. Most of these times followed by back-to-back Quicksilver 100K and Ohlone 50K weeks.

So, yes, back to the title, MiWok 100K has left quite a mark on my running experience. But this time, since I got kicked out of IBM, I had more time for another tradition, volunteering to mark the course on Friday. Joining quite a remarkable team of volunteers under the leadership of course marshal, Ken “All Day” Michal.

With Christine (Chapon), above, and the omnipresent ultra volunteer, Stan (Jensen), picture credit to Christine.

Course marking is such a different experience from the usual hammering of the pace during races, when I barely look at views and quickly switch my sight toward the next potential rock or root obstacle!

I was paired with another super experienced ultra runner, Katherina Laan, whose fame includes three 2nd place finishes at the grueling HURT (Hawaiian Ultra Running Team) 100-mile. And she has plans to improve that fate! To make Katherina an even more valuable partner for our task at hand, Mill Valley is her base and she then runs these trails much more frequently than I do (from France, my friends think I live in San Francisco, but South Bay still makes quite a trip to the magnificent Marin Headlands, and the San Francisco Running Company store in Mill Valley in that particular case). Speaking of the store, I did some sock shopping (stocking?) before our marking gig.

We were supposed to mark the whole loop from Tennessee Valley but a change of plans split that loop with my friend Christine who, despite her knee hurting, would now cover the trail out of Tennessee. Katherina and I started near Rodeo Beach instead. After less than half a mile, we realized we were marking the wrong trail, oopsie. I had prepared a document with all the course marking instructions but had forgotten to print it out. Paired with a local expert, I was following along blindly. Especially as the course is now different from what we were running back during my times. For one thing, why wouldn’t we run up MiWok trail for… MiWok?!

Anyway, we only had a couple of turns to fix and up hiking we continued on Bobcat Trail. It was quite windy up on the ridge so I welcomed some light running on our way to Bridge View and, even better, picking up the pace on the way down to Rodeo Beach.

All in all, it took us more than 3 hours to mark only 6 easy-to-mark miles, I’m glad Ken had an extended team to cover the whole 100K! And we used up all our allotted flags and ribbons so I’m pleased Ken confirmed runners were satisfied didn’t encounter any issue with marking. Speaking of flags, I hadn’t realized how dry and rocky the Headlands were, it was really challenging to get these flags deep enough in the ground so they would resist the frequent gusty winds over these hills. But the Rangers’ rules rule, especially after our Dean Karnazes’ coyote fiasco of August 2022. Already a huge relief and appreciation that Magda (Boulet), the RD, manages to get a permit to keep the MiWok 100K tradition strong and going!

Bonus: a week earlier, I had also crossed the Golden Gate Bridge, this time to drive 2 visiting friends to Muir Woods. And look at which local Marin Headlands running legend we saw flying down Route 1, into Tamalpais and Mill Valley! Yes, Gary Gellin himself!

Run 4 Amma: helping some, running some

As I mentioned in my previous post (Quicksilver 100K race report), I'm off my first job. Since I had been calling running my second job for the past 30 years, that mean I can now put even more hours into it! Including volunteering at races. Today was actually the second race I helped out, this month. 

Mike Kreaden and the Stevens Creek Striders have organized Run 4 Amma, a fundraiser for cancer research at UCSF, for the past 15 years. As you read in that last post, the Striders are giving us a huge help by manning the Bull Run aid station, a spot on the course all the 100K and 50K runners hit twice, meaning about 600-700 individuals to handle. A service so essential to our Quicksilver race that, despite the many hours Stuart spent directing last weekend, he was again on deck, to return the favor.

For Run4Amma, the 50K and 30K races started at 7:30 and our Quicksilver aid station was at miles 10.5 and 14. Mike, the RD, had asked Stuart to get ready by 8:30 for the first runners. Looking at the overall 25-participant field, I was a bit dubious about that timing. I decided to run the 13 miles from home up to Skyline and was aiming at getting there around 9 am (Stuart had two other experienced helpers from our club: Guillaume who ran last week's 100K in 12:08, and Luciano, another member of our ultra team).

I left downtown Cupertino around 7:10 so I was a bit late despite a below 10 minutes average pace on this long climb. Running on route 9 isn't much fun, although the traffic was mostly upward. I remain amazed how many speedy cars use this road like it was a racing circuit, duh! I ran on the left side of the road and, at least, didn't cross any cyclists (to me there are the biggest danger when they cut corners at 50 mph...).

An anecdote on the way up: I was surprised to discover a new development, some conservation contribution from... Larry Ellison. Good surprise give the bad opinion I have of him about our Californian values otherwise... It's a hospital for wildlife and it opened in March 2025. And they are even looking for a supervisor (application)!

Back to Run4Amma, as I predicted, the first (male) runner arrived much later, at 9:23. Then 3 women at respectively 9:23, 9:31 and 9:33. Then, the field got really sparse, we certainly spent more time waiting than filling bottles. And I did fill a few but I mostly took the time to take pictures of the runners, posted in this Google album (please download the pictures you want, I may not keep that album for ever).

With the light field (25 participants) total, it took more than 3 hours for everybody to go through our aid station, and that was only mile 14 for the second passage. Besides the broad range of paces, we learned from one of the runners that there had been a major incident, with a young runner falling on his face and losing consciousness long enough to seriously scare those around him. He recovered consciousness fortunately but was so disoriented he couldn't answer basic questions. This happened to one of my sons as we were skiing, more than 10 years ago, he couldn't recall he was attending Yale, that was scary indeed.

With that, one of the long-time Striders, Peggy, spent quite some time at the scene and ended up being the last runner coming through our station.

As if that wasn't enough for one day, another Strider, Pat, was sweeping and tripped. She got to our station with a bloody face, what a day! A car, or rather face, wash was in order...

We hadn't enough coverage to reach the RD, and the radio wasn't going through. Thankfully Mike stopped by our station later this morning to confirm the injured runner had been well taken care of by the medics and was in stable conditions, pending more concussion-followup exams.

I ran a much more pleasant route back home, down on Charcoal Road, Table Top Mountain Trail, crossing the refreshing Stevens Creek, then along the creek on Canyon Trail, then Stevens Canyon Road, up Lookout Trail, Coyote Ridge, down Hayfield Trail to Fremont Older, Prospect Road and along the track, to McClellan and Pacifica. For a total of 29 miles. Back to the title, helping some, running some...

Relive.cc flyover (click on this link or the picture below):